Elite prosecutor is sent to convict illegal immigrants

Richard
Ruelas
Republic columnist
Nov. 20, 2006 12:00 AM

For three days last week, the head of the county attorney's violent-crime unit was in a sixth-floor courtroom presenting a case. It is so rare for Anthony Novitsky to actually stand before a jury that some junior county attorneys came to the courtroom simply to observe.

As division chief, Novitsky is responsible for overseeing every grisly murder in the Phoenix area. That includes the two men accused in the "Serial Shooter" case and the man accused of crimes linked to the "Baseline Killer" case. The last case Novitsky prosecuted was Bishop Thomas O'Brien's hit-and-run in 2004.

The stakes weren't as high last week. If convicted, the man on trial would likely be sentenced to probation and released. This case was more about scoring a victory for Novitsky's boss, Andrew Thomas.
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Novitsky was prosecuting Juan Barragan-Sierra, a man found lying under some carpet in the back of a pickup on June 23. Barragan-Sierra was charged with conspiring to smuggle himself into Maricopa County. The jury begins deliberating the felony case today.

It's a novel prosecution. Thomas applied the long-standing conspiracy statute to a recently passed state statute outlawing human smuggling.

The first arrests under this law attracted intense media attention. Thomas and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio greeted the first batch of defendants as they were brought handcuffed into jail.

Defense attorneys flew in from California to help out. National civil rights groups offered assistance. Experienced Phoenix attorneys helped write motions and create strategy. But that was in the pretrial phase when there were constitutional questions to be addressed.

The work of actually trying the cases has been left to public defenders working largely alone. And they're going up against a rotating team of top-level prosecutors.

"It was just me against the County Attorney's Office," said Jose Colon, a public defender whose client became the first to be prosecuted for conspiring to smuggle himself. "Every time I filed a motion, they had someone else who responded."

Novitsky prosecuted that case as well.

For Thomas' office, the convictions are trophies. The guilty jury verdict in Colon's case was called a "historic milestone" by Thomas' office in a news release. It is also praised on Thomas' new Web site, illegalimmigrationjournal.com.

Thomas touts the 90 percent conviction rate for accused conspirators, without mentioning that most of those were immigrants taking a plea deal in order to get out of jail and go back home.

The first case to go to trial was thrown out. The judge ruled that prosecutors didn't have a case. The county has also dismissed charges in several other cases, rather than risk losing.

One of those cases, which also brought Novitsky into court, was dismissed this month on the scheduled first day of trial.

In court last week, Novitsky showed the confident demeanor of an old pro. He walked the jury through the complex case, showing them how they could find Barragan-Sierra guilty of conspiring to smuggle himself. "It's that simple," he said at the end of his opening argument.

At day's end, Novitsky admitted to being a little rusty. Although, he shrugged off the notion that this was an outsized use of his talents.

"A jury trial is always a challenge," he said, smiling. "I just do what they tell me."



Reach Ruelas at (602) 444-8473.
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